Have you verified the wattmeter? What does the internal TS-440S wattmeter tell you? is it the same as the 816 meter? Looking thru the schematics for the TS-440S, there isn't really any band-mode specific circuitry in the rig except for fband pass filters in the finals area and those would affect ALL modes? I am just wondering if the problem may lie OUTSIDE the TS440S?

Gene W5DQ

Cheaper ... most likely.

More fun ... Maybe but possibly a lot more work than I'd like to do if the original builder was sloppy and did a piss poor job in construction. Having worked on Heathkits that were brought into the Heathkit store for repair because the kit builder didn't know a 1/2 watt resistor from a diode and didn't take time to read the instructions, I can safely say that I have seen everything from pristine 'careful deliberate concise' wiring/construction to 'stand back and throw it at the chassis' style. Being one that one NOT be satisfied with crappy workmanship, I would have to completely gut it and rebuild it from the ground up if I had to work from a bad original build. Having built quite a few SB-200 and SB-220 in the period I worked at Heath (i'd buy them with my discount, build them and then sell them to those that wanted one but could not find the time to build or did not have the abilities to build them), I am familiar with the innards of these amps very well (well better back then because I haven't had the chance to tear one apart lately).

Sure you could save some bucks but I would like to be able to build a 'virgin' SB-220 again but not have to pay $2K+ to do it!

Gene W5DQ

I tossed one UNDER a car once

Nice call .... my previous call was KI6LO

Sorry but I can't help you here .... tried CB one time in 1976 and decided there had to be a better way. Got a Novice ticket and have been a ham ever since. Never even turned on or listened to the 'CRAP BAND' in over 36 years.

Better yet, look to the LEFT of this text screen and in the yellow sidebar under "RESOURCES", click the 'Classifieds' option. Takes you right to the Swap Meet section.

Gene W5DQ

Why do you need to pay for a logbook Just because HRD is planning to start charging for their product doesn't mean free logging is over. There are numerous EXCELLENT electronic logbooks on the internet FREE for the downloading and use. For the record, I have used DX Lab Suite for many years and it is totally FREE, has excellent support from the author Dave AA6YQ and does as much as HRD (and probably more but I haven't done a feature to feature comparison in a while). If you are still interested in electronic logging, do yourself a favor and at least check it out. You then won't have to make statement that you can't afford to pay for a FREE logbook.

And I don't use QRZ logbook. DX Lab Suite handles all my logging needs and interfaces seamlessly to LOTW, eQSL and makes paper QSLs a snap. Oh did I mention it's FREE!! 

Gene W5DQ

The last unbuilt SB-220 I saw on eBAY went for well over $2K. Now that price isn't far off from a typical dual bottled 3-500Z amp ready built from a Tennessee amp supplier but to have the fun of building it yourself would be worth the extra money in my book. I just didn't have an extra $2K+ sitting around waiting to be spent on an unbuilt Heathkit amp

I worked as a RF bench tech (also the stocking clerk, salesman, janitor and all around flunkie) at the Ross Ave Heathkit store in Dallas while attending college there in the mid-70's. I remember stocking the shelves with unbuilt kits including the 'Sugar Baker' series of amps and transcievers/transmitters/receivers and bunches of 'Hot Water 101s'. I have dreams of finding an old barn stuffed full of sealed Heathkit ham gear kits, unbuilt, stored and forgotten till I find them. I'm an instant millionaire

Gene W5DQ

Use my SM-220 with the RF out of the amp into the INPUT and OUTPUT to the tuner/antenna switching array. I don't monitor just the audio but rather the entire TX RF envelope to watch for clipping and flattening of valleys/peaks of the envelope. I monitor the audio itself with the MONITOR function turned ON so the TX audio is in the headphones. I gave up trying to get the panadapter to give me anything that resembled a useful trace. I only use the SM220 for TX monitoring now.

The two-tone is only useful as an audio source for alignment as far as I see. I simply monitor my actual voice audio and peak the MIC GAIN and outboard W2IHY's EQ-Plus for best TX audio.

Yes, having the tone volume adjustments for SIDETONE and MONITOR levels on a front mounted knob would have been a real luxury. As they are, they as basically useless if you have any need to adjust the levels during operation. Who in their right mind is going to pull the radio from the operating position and flip it up on its side to do a maintenance level adjustment to get the sound levels where they need to be if they need to be changed with the controls on the bottom of the chassis in recessed holes? The engineer who thought that one up should have been fired!!!

One can only HOPE for CHANGE so long and then reality kicks in!!! I like a TEA .... party ..... with milk and sugar please!! In fact I'm having one the evening of Nov 6th

I have a TS940S (it's sick right now and on the bench for service) but I use a W2IHY EQ-Plus with a Heil GM-5 mic on it. Since I do all my audio processing externally in the EQ-Plus, I have the TS940S compression turned OFF but I typically drive my TS940S to have voice peaks cause the ALC to jump up to just below the peak ALC meter reading (roughly mid scale of the meter movement). I also monitor my output RF signal on the SM-220 Station Monitor scope and the headphone using the MONITOR function on the TS940S. I have no distortion (either audio or visually on the scope) and the audio reports I get say it is very solid, smooth and nice sounding. Locals that I have tested with tell me it is very natural sounding. I drive this into a Ameritron AL-811 and have roughly 500W out also.

I think from your description, you were just under driving your audio at first and as your drove it more, your signal came up to where people started t hear you. In the past, I followed the TS940S manual and setup my audio drive levels per it using the compression and had no problems. I think if you follow the manual, you should have none either. I went to the EQ-Plus more to get rid of background sounds from blowers and the evaporative cooler blower output just behind my operating position. Usually 10dB compression should be enough.

You can turn up the monitor audio level to get more sound into the headphones to help hear problems. The adjustment for this is on the bottom of the radio in a hole (yes, a really dumb place to put it!!) and you'll need a small screwdriver to adjust it properly.

73

Gene W5DQ

DITTO for me!

Gene W5DQ

They were open in as much as the room was open for members to enter and wait until the general meeting commenced but the commotion created by the members showing up and chatting in the back of the room created such a distraction that the board chose to close them, asking the members to wait outside the room until the board meeting was over. The board meets 30 minutes prior to the start of the general meeting. I would suppose that anyone that actually wants to LISTEN to the board but not speak would be allowed to sit in the room the board doesn't make financial decision without bringing it tothe membership for a vote for anything over $200. This way the board can proceed thru their agenda quickly and be ready for the general meeting.

Gene W5DQ

I too had looked very seriously at a FT-847 a couple of years ago and got all the way up to finding one that was my pick to buy and then I did some last minute research and found that for all practicality, replacement finals in the FT-847 are non-existant and reportedly unobtainable from any source - unless your real lucky and find some place that just happens to have some new old stock available. For that reason and only that reason, I decided *reluctantly* to go a different route and obtained a TS-2000/X rig. Knowing my luck, I would have bought a used FT-847 on Monday only to have the finals fail on Friday, leaving me with a nice looking paperweight

Since the target rig was to replace a kludged 6M setup with a more stable configuration, the TS-2000/X did that just fine and the price was VERY acceptable to me. Someday if I happen to have the means, I would like to do a A/B test between a FT-847 and my TS-2000/X just to authenticate the reports of the FT-847 being a much better radio than the TS-2000. It might be (and probably is) but I know I do like Kenwoods, always have and hopefully always will.

Gene W5DQ

I bend 3/8" aluminum tubing with a radius of about 2" with the little cheapo tube bending set from Harbor Freight. I haven't tried copper but works well with aluminum. I see no reason it would not work with the untreated copper tubing and piping.

Gene

----------------
In the beginning God created Ham, and God was pleased.
Then God created QRP and God was pleased.
Ham said unto God, "God why has thou limited me to QRP. God replied, "Soest thou could see the futility of it". Then God created QRO and EVERYONE was pleased.

From the Book on Operating, ALPHA 1:1

Gene W5DQ